Federation: Resilience Framework for Community Safety and Resilience in the face of disaster risk

This new framework, drawn up following consultation, intends:

to establish a foundation on which all Red Cross Red Crescent programmes, projects and interventions in DRR and all actions which contribute to the building of safe and resilient communities can be created, developed and sustained.

Download the Framework from the Federation website.

UNAIDS : NEW DIRECTOR AND DIRECTION

On his first country visit, the new Executive Director of UNAIDS, Mr Michel Sidibé outlined his vision and priorities for UNAIDS in the township of Khayelitsha in South Africa. Speaking to community and political leaders, Mr Sidibé praised the resilience and perseverance of the community working together to achieve goals in the face of incredible challenges.

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV worldwide, accounting for two thirds (67%) of all people living with HIV and for three quarters of AIDS deaths in 2007. The nine countries in southern Africa continue to bear a disproportionate share of the global burden-35% of HIV infections and 38% of deaths due to AIDS.

Like other regions of the world, southern Africa is feeling the effects of the global economic crisis. Mr Sidibé stressed the need for follow through on domestic and international investment commitments to meet 2010 country targets.

Most countries have set universal access targets for 2010 that are ambitious and reach real people. For countries to reach the specific targets they have set, an estimated investment of US$ 25 billion will be required in 2010, which is US$ 11.3 billion more than is available today.
For further info see UNAIDS WEBSITE.

Tufts: The Humanitarian Costs of Climate Change

By Mackinnon Webster, Justin Ginnetti, Peter Walker, Daniel Coppard, and Randolph Kent

A new research report which examines the projected increases in humanitarian response costs resulting from climate change.

The research uses a number of different models to project the likely increases in humanitarian spending as a result of climate change, twenty years into the future. It uses trends projecting from past spending data to assess the likely increase in spending resulting from climate change.

The findings indicate that climate change will have a significant impact on humanitarian costs and the increase could range from a 32% increase, taking into account only changes in frequency of disasters, to upwards of a 1600% increase when other criteria, such as intensity, are also taken into account. The report also highlights the tremendous limitations in the present global databases on humanitarian spending and the difficulties in using these to project future trends.

View or download the report at the Tufts website.

Tufts: Iraq: more challenges ahead for a fractured humanitarian enterprise

Greg Hanson, consulting researcher for the Feinstein International Center.

The work is an update of an earlier study on perceptions of humanitarian action in Iraq, which was part of the Humanitarian Action 2015 program. The report draws upon five years of active monitoring in Iraq and the region, a relatively long period in which agencies have had many opportunities to adapt to a difficult context. The report argues that despite some improvements in security for Iraqis, the ability of the international community to provide for the most vulnerable is impaired by the continued politicization of humanitarian response and systemic deficiencies in coordination mechanisms. The report concludes the both the UN system’s integrated mission approach and the UN’s relatively risk-averse security model have hampered the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall humanitarian response. Areas are highlighted where there are opportunities for improvement.

The study echoes the findings of a parallel study on Afghanistan to be released shortly.

Download the report from the Tufts website.

ICRC: HIV Field Guide

The field guide is designed to assist the ICRC in responding to HIV as an integral part of its core health activities. It provides:

• guidance and decision-making tools to help delegations decide what to do in response to HIV among specific populations in a given context;
• guidance on how to integrate HIV into core health activities.

Annex 1 contains a series of Action Guides that summarize information on key topics and options for action. These need to be read in conjunction with more detailed technical resources, references to which are provided in each Action Guide. The guide is also designed to help delegations find strategic entry points to respond to HIV as part of the work they do in a given setting and, over time, to build the whole organization’s capacity to respond to HIV as an integral part of its work.

Downloadable as a PDF from the ICRC website.

ODI: Pakistan Case Study: The Role of the Affected State in Humanitarian Action

This paper examines the history and structure of disaster response, reconstruction and preparedness in Pakistan since 1947, and in particular the interesting balance of power between national and local state capacity on the one hand, and military and civilian authority on the other.

Pakistan's recent disasters are covered in depth, comparing and contrasting the responses provided by the state and international actors, including donors, the UN and INGOs; lessons learned, and ideas on the way forward for Pakistan in disaster management.

Download the paper from the Reliefweb site.

HPG: Livelihoods, Livestock and Humanitarian Response: the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards

This Network Paper discusses livelihoods-based livestock programming and its role in humanitarian emergency response. It highlights the importance of taking livelihood assets, in particular livestock, into account in responding to emergencies, and describes how the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) Project has been developed to support this process.

The paper begins with a discussion of the role of livestock in livelihoods and the potential links between livestock and other emergency responses. Chapter 2 presents a summary of the LEGS Project, describing the origins, scope and contents of the guidelines. Chapter 3 contains case studies from Ethiopia and Iran of livestock-based emergency interventions, which are reviewed against the guidelines. Chapter 4 discusses the key issues arising from the development of the guidelines and standards and highlighted by the case studies.

Download the paper from the Reliefweb site.

Using Evaluation: Progress and Lessons from the TEC Regional Stream

This publication captures and acknowledges the key contributions made by a wide range of partners in supporting the TEC regional stream effort. The publication demonstrates the value of sharing and learning from system-wide efforts to reorient and improve future DRR, response, and recovery initiatives in and outside the region. Read more on the Reliefweb site.

The paper contains following topics:

• The Need for Humanitarian Reorientation
• Introduction: Spearheading the Regional Stream
• Analysing and Sharing the TEC Process, Findings, and Recommendations
• Dialogue and Evaluation: Two-way Communication towards Reoriented Recovery
• Developing and Disseminating the TEC Message: Influence through Targeted Use of Papers and Publications
• Building Consensus on Fundamental Reorientation in Regional Organisations
• Training: Building Knowledge and Skills for Reoriented Service Delivery
• Expanding Impact through Influencing Policymaking
• A Solution Exchange: Practitioners in Asia Discuss Follow-up Lessons from Tsunami Recovery

Humanitarian Exchange Magazine No. 41 - Feature: The Cyclone Nargis Response in Myanmar

This edition of Humanitarian Exchange focuses on the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, with special reference to Cyclone Nargis, which struck the country on 2 and 3 May. In all, over 140,000 people were killed and 20,000 injured. The homes, communities and livelihoods of around 2.4 million people were affected, with the damage caused to infrastructure, commerce and agriculture estimated at $4 billion.

Articles in this issue explore the roles played by major international institutions in organising the response, in particular the UN and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN); issues of access for expatriate aid workers and assistance; needs assessment; and the importance of prior presence in enabling an emergency response. Other articles focus on the role of national civil society in the initial response, and initiatives to support national civil society through grants, training and capacity-building support. Taken as a whole, the articles suggest that the initial restrictions on access perhaps forced international actors into a more creative and flexible response, one which valued local and regional capacities more than is often the case.

Away from the Nargis response, a set of more general articles examine conflict-related displacement in eastern Myanmar, landmines and chronic health issues – a salutary reminder that there is a wider humanitarian crisis in Myanmar that deserves greater attention.

Other articles in this edition revisit Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)’s approaches to accountability, the need for health agencies to take chronic diseases into account in their response and the immensely challenging security environment for humanitarian agencies in Chad. One article examines the exclusion and neglect facing Aravanis (people who may be born inter-sex or apparently males, dress in feminine clothes and generally see themselves as neither women nor men) in the response to the tsunami in Tamil Nadu, India. We also have a topical examination into how humanitarian assistance is being targeted in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Finally, Maurice Herson challenges the idea of dependency in relief.

Read more on the HPN website.

Tufts (and HPG): Livelihoods, Power and Choice: the Vulnerability of the Northern Rizaygat, Darfur, Sudan

Livelihoods in Darfur are intimately linked to the conflict, none more so than the livelihoods of the camel herding nomads known as the Northern Rizaygat. Their notoriety as part of the Janjaweed militia has obscured from view how their lives and livelihoods have been affected by conflict.

Based on fieldwork in rural Darfur, this report uses a livelihoods lens to illustrate the processes that have contributed to the vulnerability of the Darfuri nomads who have much in common with pastoralists globally. Severe pressures on pastoralist livelihoods have contributed to ‘maladaptive’ livelihood strategies that are often linked to violence and conflict, and undermine the livelihoods of both victims and perpetrators.

They have suffered relative exclusion and vilification by the international community, including by humanitarians, international peace processes and international advocacy. Apart from their politicized image, other reasons for their exclusion are because they are widely perceived by the international community as less vulnerable, and also because they are hard-to-reach, living in scattered rural communities and alienated by their treatment internationally.

This report challenges the widely held misperceptions about their vulnerability and presents a detailed series of recommendations. Lessons learned from this very specific case from Darfur are critical for a lasting peace and have much wider regional and international policy implications.

Read more on the Tufts website.

HPG have published a similar working paper entitled 'Challenging choices: Protection and livelihoods in Darfur', as part of a study on ‘Livelihoods and Protection in Conflict’. The aim of the research is to understand how greater complementarity between humanitarian protection and livelihoods approaches might strengthen analysis and intervention in order to reduce the risks facing conflict-affected populations. It draws on analysis of responses of those at risk in order to provide recommendations for humanitarian programming so as to achieve maximum impact on both protection and livelihoods. Download the paper from the Reliefweb site.

New data and information on Children and AIDS

UNICEF Children and AIDS:Third Stocktaking Report

The phrase ‘know your epidemic and response’ has become extremely important in the response to HIV and AIDS. But to better serve children, knowing your epidemic and response must be paired with 'know your children'. This Third Stocktaking Report examines data on progress, emerging evidence, and current knowledge and practice for children as they relate to four programme areas, and it calls for several focused, concrete, achievable actions that can significantly improve prospects for children and women and help nations move towards their goals.

Children and AIDS: Country Fact Sheets, 2008
A companion volume to Children and AIDS: Third Stocktaking Report, 2008, with statistical data for 157 countries and territories.